Talk of the Town: Never forget MSP's secret Take That past

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 08:39

LOTHIANS Tory MSP Gavin Brown shared a platform – briefly – with former Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus the other night.

The occasion was the Scottish Politician of the Year Awards at Edinburgh's Prestonfield House hotel, where Mr Brown was named winner in the "One to Watch" category.

Ms McManus was there to hand over the prize, and it gave Mr Brown the opportunity to confess his secret past as "a former member of a Take That tribute band in Magaluf".

He added: "I wasn't very good but it hasn't held me back."

Who is author's inspiration for Scots sci-fi phenomenon

HE'S the time-travelling doctor whose exploits have had children cowering in terror behind the sofa for decades.

As Bathgate-born David Tennant prepares to make way for a new Doctor Who, it seems the sci-fi character's influence has created a new Scottish phenomenon.

American author Diana Gabaldon arrives in Edinburgh in January to discuss her latest Outlander book – a series inspired by an episode of Doctor Who she saw as a child.

Back then, it was Patrick Troughton who travelled in the Tardis to 1745 and the height of the Jacobite Rebellion.

Years later, Diana, from Arizona, used it to create a series of novels based around a 20th-century Englishwoman who travels through time to 18th-century Scotland.

Millions of readers have made her books bestsellers, and there are even Scottish tours for fans – costing up to 1,600 per person for a week – which take in Scottish places named in her books, including several in the Capital.

System's a real turn-off

THE gremlins wreaking havoc with technology at the City Chambers have been at it again.

This time they struck during the debate over care services for the disabled where, with the main chamber completely packed out, a sound system had to be set up in the European Room relaying the exchanges to more than 150 people.

After 15 minutes, Labour councillor Ewan Aitken halted proceedings after being told nothing was coming out of the speakers next door.

The sound system had mysteriously "jumped frequencies". The solution? As with most IT problems – turn it off, then turn it back on again.

Hawk-Eye serves Andy well

ANDY Murray goes into this week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on the back of a perceived improvement in his ability to predict the Hawk-Eye machinery which gives players the chance to challenge dodgy line calls.

So much so that when Murray's record of successful challenges came up in discussion at Craiglockhart Tennis Centre recently, one English player said the apparatus should be re-named "Hawk-Eye-the-noo!"